True story….my sister had her PhD papers her bag while in New Haven and some kid pulled a gun on her and demanded them. She panicked because of course those were the only copies she had (!!!!!). Told him no and he ran away from this “crazy, neurotic woman”. That poor guy must be miserable ):

What is the risk of posting your address like this? I don’t see the harm in it. So, now any passerby knows the first name and last initial of the person who lives in this house and that they recently had their car broken into? So what?

We had our car broken into in Shaw and a briefcase taken that had some tax documents in it. Much to our surprise we got a call from the police about a year later that our tax papers had recently been found in a dumpster not far away. We got everything back. I sure hope this man gets his papers back, and sooner than a year. I’d post my address too if I was desperate.

I misspoke. I do hate the crime, clearly, but don’t think DC does enough to prevent it. Criminals don’t face adequate consequences here, and there is little to deter them from crime.

The guy was not wise to leave luggage visible in a car, but I think a lot of us have ended up leaving something in a car before that we should not have–whether it’s forgetting it, or thinking “I’ll only be five minutes” or what have you. I’ve had my car broken into in DC multiple times with nothing visible, and with nothing of real value in the car at all.

My brother was mugged and assaulted this fall, and was basically made to feel that it was his fault for having been out watching football and having a few beers. I don’t appreciate the “blame the victim” mentality of some of the law enforcement folks he encountered.

I’ll be sticking around, thanks. I just hope that eventually crime rates improve.

I’ve also had my car broken into a few times and the police made me feel like it was my fault for leaving the doors unlocked. There was an interesting discussion on the Cleveland Park listserv about whether it’s better to lock your doors and risk a window getting broken/convertible top getting shredded or not lock your doors and “invite” criminals to come right in.

Exactly! I had left my doors unlocked once when it was broken into and there was nothing of value in there, but they still opened the door and threw stuff around (car manual, napkins, random things I had in the console). But they’ve also broken in when it was locked, and yet nothing was visible.

I also think that the guy who lost his luggage may not have had it in plain sight (it’s not clear from his sign–and you can pop open most cars’ trunks with a lever inside the vehicle, so who knows). But all in all, I feel like there’s no way to fully protect yourself and that not enough is done to discourage crime.

I was violently assaulted (broken jaw, severe bruises incapacitating use of one arm, etc.) just two weeks ago for a wallet that had nothing of value in it. Several neighbors heard what was happening and chose not to help or even make their presence known to deter the crime- instead they waited until the police were there and then informed them “I heard what was happening, but I didn’t see anything.” I think the culture around crime in this city (e.g. its not me, so I’m going to ignore it) is really sad. If we had more of a neighborhood watch mentality we could stop a lot of the senseless crime that happens in this city.